Almondvale FC have changed their name to Jeanfield Swifts AFC and have a new web-site which you will find at www.jeanfieldswiftsafc.co.uk
The weather has turned to our advantage. Whats this? A game of football two weeks in a row, and with the sun coming out it was almost a shame we didn't take the barbecue.
Again the Vale were down to the minimum because of suspensions, injuries and work commitments, and a late, and I mean late call up for the new keeper when Stuart Simpson couldn't cope with the combination of sunshine, and the atmosphere of these northern climes and went down with a last minute bout of swamp fever.
It might be possible to suggest it was the sunshine that brought him out, but I think it was some crazy detox plan from somewhere in his back catalogue of scud jotters, but the Looney Toon days were back again. Mark Townsley got his kit off and pulled on the jersey for his (first) appearance of the season. Albeit he warmed the bench for a good chunk of the day.
I think the Vale started the brighter and had early chances amongst which Rossko should have done better if only he had realised the time he had to shift the ball to his right foot. On 35 minutes, it might have looked a fairly soft penalty but you could also argue it was a credit to Scooty P who drew the tackle in although he then didn't make a meal of it. Deano stepped up and slotted home his first goal of the season.
Rossko made amends on the stroke of half time with a well placed strike to the bottom right hand corner.
Early in the second half - never take a lend of dafties - someone tell the keeper where the ball is. ITS BEHIND YOU!!!! IN THE NET!!!.
Okay we will give him that one to even up the other wise solid display. And we won which made it funny.
On 60 minutes, Lammy crossed or struck the ball into the top left corner. You Choose!
On 85 minutes, Lammy made it 4 - 1 with a header/falling into the ball sort of thing from a half decent cross. Game Over. Not before two things happened. Deano missed a penalty after Lammy had been brought down. And.....................................
Toons made an appearance. To be fair he had two good bits of play in his ten minutes, but would be the first to admit a sharper Toons would have done better and stretched the score even more. A wee taste of what could be for him. Spare a thought for wee Sean G who came on late up front never got a touch although would have if Toons had squaed the ball to him in front of an open goal. Mind you Toons had been on the park for ten minutes. A long time without his medication.
You never know maybe we will see Stevie Douglas this season again. Are you reading this ya auld Arab?
And the animals went in two by two.....................................
I am not sure which is worst - sitting about waiting for a game or enduring horrendous conditions which went well beyond a lottery only to get a game. I would imagine under any other circumstances where both teams were not in desperate need of a game, any game, then this one might have not gone ahead. I would say that of course because we lost. 3 - 1 to two late goals in a game where we had enough chances to win it. To be fair, the conditions under foot were not to bad, although in some places no player was moving with great confidence.
Brig started the brighter, Vale came into it. Brig took the lead, and Vale equalised. Not before missing the several chances to do so. The scorer, well we will give it to David Simpson.
The second half saw the worst of the weather, when the rain arrived in bucket loads, and in horizontal lines. It stretched the game with neither team able to lift the heads without running the risk of being blinded permanently by the driving rain needles and play much football. With Vale having the wind at their backs they should have made better of it but it was Brig with 10 minutes to go, and the horrible thought of another 30 minutes looming who got their sodden noses in front. They added another to seal the game. The Stuart one of Simpson clan will not class that one in his memoirs.
Plus points - No injuries. A game under the belts. Some good performances particularily by players getting more of a run because of injuries and suspensions. and one less game into those suspensions. And finally no more red cards from a ref who has not missed us recently when dishing out the cards.
Almondvale 2 Wolfhill 2 The Referee 3
Sorry folks but that is all you are getting this week. Wolfhill posted a reasonably fair account of the game, I am told because I wasn't there. I was lording it up in old London town.
There hasn't half been some pish written about our games recently and it has always been something that I have tried to rise above and will continue to do so. Although the reports on this web-site will always be ever so slightly biased to the Vale, they will try to be reasonably fair.
The PA had us 'rejuvanated' but 'dominated' last week. The Ammie web-site said we had pre-season title aspirations. Neither true. In fairness the paper only reports what it is told by whoever supplies the reports.
The Vale aspirations this year are to continue in an upward direction but the gaffer is no doubt that it is not a sensible aim to think it can be achieved overnight. I recall Bill Bennett of St Johns telling me it took them about 13 years to get out of the second. I hope to hell it doesn't take that long, but a degree of patience, and humility is required and both should be used to temper an absolute and determined ambition to be better, and maybe just maybe one of the best. If it doesn't happen then it won't be for the lack of effort.
So it was to todays game, where the Gaffer urged the team to show the same spirit and determination that had seen better performances of late.
There was a strong wind at the Vale's backs in the first half and although they didn't start with any great tempo or purpose, some good passing moves and off the ball running caught the Alyth defence flat and the Vale were two up inside 5 minutes through Scott Phillips and George Lamond getting his first for the club. Vale maybe should have stretched the lead further before they were gifted a penalty just before half time. It was a complete andrex moment by the ref but nonetheless a well taken effort by Kris Sime who had been the player seen by the referee to be 'up-ended!!!' and this made it 3 nil at half time.
The Gaffer urged caution at half time with the wind now against them and an away side who had to be smarting after the first half topped off by the penalty. To be honest they hadn't turned up and could only play better in the second half although that shouldn't take anything away from the Vale efforts.
As it was, the Vale struck again early into the second half through George Lamond getting his second to make it 4 nil. That should have been that and when the Alyth centre half lashed out out at Fraser Stewart and got a straight red the game was effectively over. A wee bit of the Vale 'canny play against 10 men' syndrome kicked in. This was helped by the ref evening things up for the Vale's first half penalty by gifting Alyth one. Stuart got a hand to it but the pace beat him. Then a few moments later a daft sleeping defensive moment narrowed the gap to two.
Unlike previous encounters against 10 men though the Vale got back into a reasonable stride and returned to pushing the ball about. A further goal by Scotty and a well met corner headed in by Guildy made it six.
Nothing to Fear said the title. Well what I meant by that is we having nothing to fear from anyone except ourselves. That is not to say we will not meet many other teams in the future who are better than us and we will lose other games but if we continue to try and play football which we did in parts today then we will do okay.
C'mon the Vale
I was going to call this piece the Muddy Cheesecake Blues but there isn't a tune with that title. It would have been a more appropriate one because the largest percentage of the surface at the Bowl was like this at the weekend. It never has been the best place for drainage and a bit of credit to Thistle for getting the pitch looking like it was playable. The ref spent a lot of time inspecting it and hummed and hawed chucking balls up in the air before deciding to let the game go ahead. It would be sour grapes to suggest otherwise but many refs would have decided other wise and the pitch will take a while to recover.
It was the home side who seemed to adapt to the conditions better in the early exchanges playing down the slope. Vale got into their stride and were matching Thistle with their own chances but it was the home side who struck first and then twice in a couple of minutes around the 40 minute mark. To be fair Vale had not coped well with the Thistle threat from good wing play but we should have done better with the ensuing crosses. So it was a deflated team that squidged and squelched off the pitch two nothing down at half time.
A couple of changes were made. One tactical. One Forced. Deano made way for Drewski with Rossko moving into a more comfortable berth in the middle of the game and Drewski sitting in his normal left back berth. Blair had to come off with the back problem that his dogged his season so far which was good news for Shaggy who slotted in at right back for a much deserved run out.
Of course this is the Vale web site so the version of events will always be from that perspective. That said, I think it is fair to say the Vale had the best of the play in the second half and had plenty of chances to get one if not three points out of this muddy waterey encounter. Dave Stewart did a lot of hard work in creating positions where goals should have come from it but he will be the first to admit he could have and should have scored two or three goals on top of the chances that could have come out of his efforts. Both Scotty and Lammie plugged away but neither had many clear cut chances.
You get days when a keeper can do nothing wrong and the Thistle keeper had one against us. He made saves from long range to point blank, some for the cameras, some for the end of season awards I would imagine but none for the Vale cause. His man of the match award on the Thistle web site was justified.
Thistle will be happy with the three points. Vale should be happy if nothing else but with the effort and spirit that remained right to the last kick of the game. On this performance we will win more than we lose........................................................with better luck, and no Thistle keeper.
The Team is movin' on.
In terms of the Team's performance, it is movin' on in the right direction.
A game against Fairfield at any time is always going to be tough. On this occasion the Vale were on the back of a solid win against Star of Atholl and although a bit of momentum had been lost with the previous Saturday's game being postponed, the efforts and spirit at training during the week appeared to keep the momentum up.
Fairfield had an incentive that they would go top or thereabouts if other results went there way and they won and although they had some players missing through suspension, so did the Vale. Kris Guild was the acting 'Waterboy' for the day, and with others with work, university and other commitments, and the longer term injuries to others made a fair dent in the officially available squad number of 25. That said, new signing George Lamond (Lammie) was given the nod to see what he could do.
Then Graham Watt managed to tweak a hamstring before the game had even started. Yellow Jersey?
So to the Game.
The Vale started very brightly and could have been one up after two minutes when a Rossko effort clattered the bar, the rebound did the same and a further effort was blocked by the keeper. Lammie waited until 5 minutes in to show what he could do, when he sconned an effort from the edge of the box on to the bar. The rebound cleared the box on its way back out. It wasn't long before Vale got the first through Scotty Phillips when his pace caught the keepr out and his effort at a clearance was blocked by Scotty who walked the ball into the empty net.
Fairfield had a couple of chances and created some nervy moments in the Vale box but further goals by Kris Sime with a back post nod in from a Deano cross (?) and Del Mathieson with a cool slot home to finish good build up play made it 3 nil at half time.
The Gaffer's biggest job at the break was to get the team to take a deep breath and for him to take a long puff at a cigar. He smoked 5 during the game in total (!!!).
Fairfield are an organised side who never give up and were expected to come out fast in the second half but early on they went further down when Blair connected with a well flighted corner to kill the game off. Two goals from corners in two weeks. Who said practice doesn't work.
On 70 minutes Fairfield kind of imploded when they reacted to a foul. Fully Loaded Handbags were drawn and the outcome was one of their players shown a straight red and another a second yellow. Our bit was Deano getting a yellow but praise from the Gaffer for not reacting more than to hold on to his nuts which had just been booted. In fact I am not sure why he got a yellow card.
Anyway. The end result was 4 nil to the Vale. A very good result against a team who will have a big say in the league this year. Meantime we just need to keep training hard and work on playing and enjoying our football.
The usual prize to anyone signing the Guestbook with the correct band and song title.
Tay Thistle declared their pitch unplayable on the Thursday night and the Vale agreed to switch the tie to Riverside Park.
The Vale Groundstaff (?) were in early on the Saturday and although one of the goalmouths needed a bit of forking and a wee drop sand the rest of the pitch was in good condition with no sign of any standing water. 10 am - Game On.
It started to chuck it down about 11 and didn't stop. By 12 there were large puddles all over the pitch where the ground could take no more. Game Off.
What it did show was the pitch can take a fair amount of water before it eventually becomes waterlogged. Neveretheless it was the right decision. Every effort was made to get the game on but to no avail.
Its that time again.
Time again to look out the lucky pants, the shagging shirt and the five bob sliders.
The Christmas Party is on Saturday 20th December at the Ship. More Details Later.
Following a good week of training where the spirit and effort was spot on, it was a pleasing outcome to see such a bright start to the game against Star of Atholl and the Vale found themselves three up after 25 minutes. It was one of those games where it may have gone either way. Star had no points and the Vale only one. Maybe its a bit early in the year to be talking about 6 pointers but it had that kind of feeling before the game. Either way the Gaffer made sure the squad knew the importance of getting a result and making the best of the fact this was the only 2nd Division match being played.
So. Three up after 25 minutes; two on 15 and 20 by Scott Phillips from albeit close in, but never the less firmly struck, and then a scrambled effort but no less important by Kris Sime. They were all examples of good build up play which in the last few games has ended with nothing but this was different. There was spirit and determination in the play.
Then a daft ten minutes and the score came back to 3 - 2.
A free kick, player not picked up, an unlucky bounce under Stuart.
A corner. Not set up to defend as well it should have been. That said, what followed was a clear foul on our keeper which was not seen that way by the ref.
Second Half and after 46 minutes Scott got his hat trick. A good release into space down the right, a drive into the box and a cool finish.
On 50 minutes, Kris Guild finished a well taken Del corner with a solid header.
John Tainsh struck the ball off the underside of the bar and the lack of a Russian Linesman meant the score stayed at 5 - 2.
He thought he got the last word with a solid strike from the edge of the box to make it six but he added some further comment with the ref who then got the last word by booking him.
Ross Clunie was getting closer with his efforts and after a superb low strike that skimmed past the right hand post he had the ball in the net only for the ref to blow the final whistle.
Some good passages of play, good quality finishing, a couple of defensive blips, but all in all the right result.
Star were poor, but the old saying is true. You can only play what is in front of you and then you still have to do the business.
The training at Auchterarder has been stopped.
As of now all training will take place every Monday and Wednesday under floodlights at our home grounds.
It will start sharp at 7pm so all players should be at the Riverside Park in plenty time to start at 7pm. If you arrive late then you will not miss any fitness training you will just have to make it up.
All players will attend. All players should come prepared with various layers of clothing and footwear.
It would also help greatly if players would settle their subs on a Monday rather than the Saturday habit that has crept in. Please!
If a player is injured he is still expected to turn up because there will be tactical discussions which they should not miss.
There is a squad of 25 players and non-attendance without a reasonable excuse will effect the player's chance of playing on the Saturday.
That is not to say there is a rigid policy that if you don't train you won't play. Players working, on holiday, or genuinely ill will still be considered but................
The Cow sat in her deck chair at the back of the opposition goals strumming away on the banjo that was handed to her by theVale because they didn't need it after failing to come close to scuddin her arse for most of the game.
And the first rehearsal for Christmas went well, and Vale of Atholl seemed quite happy with their presents.
They were not too greedy just taking two.
And Vale coped with a the bad news the Gaffer handed them at the end.
They never were going to win the Scottish Cup anyway.
Star of Atholl next week.
No Messing About
No Presents.
Banjo Practice and Scrooge Auditions start at 7pm on Monday.
Almondvale 1 Vale of Atholl 2
Josh Miller has moved on, fancying a return to Under 18/19's. Good Luck to him.
Dean Sinclair has signed for the Vale, Good Luck to us.
For all sorts of reasons , changes were made the trip to Pitlochry. From Del, Blair and Scotty carrying injuries to Fraz and Davie away on holiday it meant opportunities came up for other players to step up to the mark. And by and large evrybody did. There were positives on the day, Ross Clunie got out of his sick bed to play, Stevie Douglas made his first appearance since the pre-season set back to his ankle injury, new signing Dean Sinclair got a pleasant surprise and found himself in the starting 11 and it was also good to see Andy Sorrie, one of the Vale Originals back now that his Uni Life has settled back into a routine that frees him up for Vale duties on a Saturday. Last minute efforts to bolster the ranks from the Junior Level failed as the club would not release the player in time. The player and Vale are still keen so the next few days will hopefully sort that out.
So to the game. The Pitlochry pitch has always famously been a big bugger and with the consistent rain, and plenty growth it was always going to be a tough 90 minutes with fitness certain to be a factor. The local side maybe just edged the first few encounters with possession in the Vale half without much actual threat on goal but it was Vale who opened the scoring. They had threatened a couple of times, once involving a goal mouth scrambled clearance but a well weighted pass by Graham Watt through the inside right channel was latched on to by Davie Simpson who still had a little work to do. The keeper hesitated and Davie placed the ball into the bottom left hand corner.
Half Time - One - nil to the Vale.
The second half was a pretty even contest with both sides having good chances but Vale extended their lead when Graham Watt curled his free kick into the right side of the net from 25 yards. The home side should have scored almost immediately from close in and also hit the bar before a drilled strike was stopped by Stuart in goals but the striker was quickest to the rebound. 2 -1
The game was opening out and Vale had a couple of glorious chances to finish the game off. It was not to be and the accumulation of effort, soft ground, big pitch, injuries a bit of bad luck and to be fair the efforts of the home side meant with the almost the last kick of the game from a corner the home side equalised. The ref blew the final whistle staright from the restart.
So any plans to watch the Scotland v Norway game are now scuppered. Personally I couldn't care less. The Vale are more important.
The music - well I am disapointed in Shaggy and the Poussin who usually get them. But its there loss.
The first training session at the all-weather pitch at Auchterarder is on Tuesday 7th October 2008. All players must be there ready to start at 8.30pm.
Scotland v Norway
The Vale have a free day on Saturday 11th October, 2008.
There may be training that day followed by a duty parade at the Old Ship Inn for the whole squad to watch the game which has a 3pm Kick Off.
Dear Readers,
and I do mean both of you since I don't count myself or those that log on to look at the coloured pictures, or listen to the music.
First of all my apologies for not posting anything in the last couple of weeks. The web site was not taking updates for the first week, and then there was a little matter of me finishing up my job which bizarrely meant I was busier than I had been for ages. I was supposed to be winding things down but imminent departure was winding things (and mostly people) up.
Did you know that today is the anniversary of the first 'Bobbies' on the beat on London in 1829. That's Bobbies, by the way Murrie not Boabies which although some might suggest otherwise is subtedly different. And no I was not one of them.
Almondvale have played a couple of games.
First they lost 2 nil to Stanley/Dunkeld. They can have all the possession in the world, be consoled by spectators who say nice things about not understanding how they got beat but the bottom line will always be 'they got beat'. It will always be that way if the opposition take the chances presented to them through mistakes, through refereeing decisions or through their own endeavours. It will always be that way if we try to walk the ball into the net, or fail even from close range to strike the cows arse with a banjo.
Then on Saturday just past, Vale travelled to Alyth.
Considering the previous few weeks, the Gaffer would have walked away far happier even with a loss because the spirit was back.
The mistakes were less, but the refereeing decisions still influenced the outcome.
The cow even had to flinch a few times as the banjo got closer, and on one occasion made its eyes water.
Good football, good team spirit on the park, chances made, and okay some mistakes made but the team spirit remained. Even when the referee sent Blair off the team spirit remained. We dug in and levelled the game. Extra Time, away from home, crap weather, a picky referee, a biased home support (no argument there) and although we created chances, it was always going to be difficult. This time last year we never had a sniff at getting to the quarter finals of the League Cup. This year we did.
We are moving in the right direction. Some days it doesnt seem like it, but we are moving in the right direction.
Tomorrow is the 43rd anniversary of James Dean's death so in tribute I have backed this letter with a little tune that is kind of a tribute. If you have no idea who Jimmy Dean was then ask the President. He will know.
If you have read down to hear and can tell me the name of band and the song, the usual prize of a free pint is at stake
Of course you do realise that this is not the place for a completely unbiased opinion on any match that the Vale are involved in. If you want that then don't visit this web-site. That said, I think this was one of these games where given all things remained equal Vale might have got something out of it.
On the hour mark, big Fraz who had been drafted in at the last minute for Blair Mac who had pulled out with a back strain, was shown a straight red. He was deemed to have shown his studs in a tackle and gone through the other player. I think it was an incredibly poor decision (but then I would), but I do think it was extremely harsh and it did in all probability affect the result.
It was 3 - 2 Burrelton at the time. To be fair, Burrelton were playing well as a team, were organised and showing good fighting spirit, so they may have come out on top at the end of the day. The ref's decision on the hour mark did make it very difficult, and of course Burrelton took full advantage to go 2 up.
The Gaffer is offering a prize to anyone who can explain why we seem to have to almost suicidally wait until we are up against it before we pick up our game.
As expected, Vale did pick up their game and made life difficult for the home side, pulled a goal back but were always going to struggle to get anything out of this one.
One decision.
That is all it took.
Burrelton 5 Almondvale 3
Almondvale FC have accepted an invitation from Jeanfield Swifts Community Sports Club to take the slot that required to be filled for an amateur football side. This means that from now on the Vale's home will be at the Jeanfield complex off Bute Drive, in Perth where they have access to the changing facilities, space for training and a sound basis for future growth of the Club.
The Club retains its own Committee structure, its own finances and importantly the relationship with the Club sponsor, The Old Ship Inn is unaffected.
It means a move away from the North Inch and away from using St John's Rooms in Rose Terrace. Vale will always be extremely grateful to all of the lads at St Johns for making them so welcome and in particular thanks to Bruce McGregor and Bill Bennet.
How many roads must a man walk down, before they call him a man
How many seas must a white dove sail, before she sleeps in the sand
How many times must the cannonballs fly, before they are forever banned
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind
The answer is blowing in the wind
If you can make sense of that you can make sense of the game against
Wind
Almost Unplayable.
Vale playing into it, but the better team.
It's niggly. There are early bookings. David Stewart again needing the last word. Kevin and Perry all over again. Kris Sime with not his best challenge of the season.
A first goal of the season for Josh. Hoorah! He needed it.
Bookings for
End of Half. Wind drops. There's a surprise.
More niggles. The Ref stops the game. Says he has had enough.
United Nations. Game Starts.
Vale get a penalty. Last Man, Nine Men. Penalty Saved.
Unthinkable. Two Minutes to go. Penalty to
A draw. Felt like a drubbing.
Everyone there and those not there need to ask themselves what they have contributed and can contribute, and what they want out of this club because today was simply not good enough.
On paper there is a squad of 24 players, today I struggled to put 14 out.
First Day at the Big School.
New Boys, full of enthusiasm and expectations, but fortunately with no sign of Coach Murrie wearing grey flannel shorts and a school blazer.
A good run in the League Cup section with three wins on the trot against fellow division 2 sides gave some indication that the Vale would able to compete and that is how it turned out in this first encounter with some folks pre-season 2nd division favourites. It was however the Pitlochry team who edged it and I am sure would be cheering all the way back up the A9 and may even feel they nicked what might have been more like a draw.
Although Almondvale had their chances throughout the 90, had started brightly and struck the woodwork a couple of times, they just couldn't make anything of the chances they were either presented with or created. That said, although they had plenty possession but the final 'quality' delivery was not there . The lone goal came from a well struck free kick which was matched by a well crafted save by Stuart Simpson. He was justifiably annoyed to see the ball come off the post back on to him and into the path of the Vale striker.
If somebody out there wants to make a lot of money then they could by writing a book entitled, 'How to get a squad togther and then aTeam out on to the pitch, ready and prepared for a game during the week, and maybe do a job during the day'. The Club Uniform for the game away to Alyth was on average dungarees/workies trousers, big clumpy bitts with the odd shirt and tie thrown in. It was a subtle blend of mystery, luck and some organised planning that put a Vale Team out in time for the kick off at 6.45 with the Gaffer holding on to the team lines as long as possible to make sure what went went out could do the job and that a little bit was held in reserve.
It was probably a bit of this pre-match rush and also perhaps a little bit of over-confidence spilling over from the excellent display on the Saturday but Vale did not start the way they left off from the Star game. Alyth were organised and although they did not pose a huge amount of threats on the Vale Goal, they did take an early lead through one of their few chances. That said, Vale created even fewer chances in the first half and had to take a positive approach at half time in that they were only 1 nil down and had not played well as a team.
They started to pick up the pace in to the second half and got the equaliser through a Del in swerving free kick met well by Neil Ritchie. Vale went to sleep a short time later and went a goal down again. To add to the pressure Kris Guild was sent off for a second bookable offence. Not one of his best tackles but with no hint of malice.
So with 30 minutes to play things did not look good. The Gaffer had toyed with a back three just before Kris got sent off but events dictated a rethink.
One of football's mysteries is the effect on a team when they lose a man. On this occasion it seem to give Vale the kick up the proverbial they were needing and their tempo changed. It produced an early result when Davie Stewart's cross took a subtle deflection, wrong footed the keeper and Vale were equal again.
With ten minutes to go the Alyth defence got themselves into a hellish mess assisted by determined and presistent closing down by Dav Lynch and Scott Phillips to such an extent one of the defenders undercooked a pass across the back line which was intercepted by Davie Simpson who deserves credit for slotting home what would turn out to be the winner.
Vale defended well for the last ten minutes and rode their luck a couple of times but the win was theirs, and at least a play-off slot in the League Cup guaranteed.
Vale started brightly 'doon the slope' at Blair Athol and were moving the ball across the park well. They took the lead in 10 minutes when Del Mathieson found himself in space through the middle and tucked the ball away nicely. Vale had several chances to increase their lead but paid the penalty for a daft wee slip up on 30 minutes and they were pegged back at 1 -1. Into the second half and Vale continued to plug away with some good passing moves from back to front. They took the lead through one of those moves with big Davie Stewart forcing his way into the right edge of the box and swinging in a cross....................................oh sorry it was shot on goal then Davie? Either way it beat the keeper. Vale then stepped up a gear and Star couldn't live with them. The game was sealed again through strong running by Davie Stewart finished with a cross dropped on to Scott Phillips' head on the 6 yard line. 3 - 1.
Not a great start to make an apology from the start but I have had trouble getting into the web-site that allows me to edit the Vale site.
But I am here now.
The story so far..............
Wolfhill 3 Almondvale 2
Excuses first. We had to give up home advantage because the North Inch was not ready. We then had three players suspended and a bunch of injuries from pre-season.
That said, we started brightly and were twice in the lead but we lacked the depth of squad in certain areas and therefore ran out of bite and steam in those areas. A few positives and an early indication of a tough season ahead.
Almondvale 4 Burrelton 3
Now we managed to get a game at home. That said, I can tell you even then it was a struggle to get the pitch ready in time.
Burelton started the brighter and deserved their lead on ten minutes. Vale got back into the game on 35 when Graham Watt shot from 25 yards into the bootm right corner. Honours even at half time. Burrelton then struck twice in ten minutes and should have been away and gone but all credit to the Vale for pegging them back firstly through Fraser Stewart up for a corner and then a superb edge of the box effort from Scott Phillips. With ten minutes to go Scott grabbed the winner and Vale with their tils up could have extended that lead and finished in high spirits.